The 10 Best Cities in North America For Music Festivals

Auditorium Shores in Austin, Texas. Photo Credit: Extreme Air Shots

Music festivals have exploded across theÂ continent, especially in major North American cities. We scoured the MFJ Festival Guide to find the cities that welcome music festivals with open arms. We’ve included a sampler of some of the more notable fests in each city, but remind you that it’s only a partial list — mostly dedicated to straight music festivals. There’s literally a festival every weekend in these places with bands and tunes for every type of fan.

A couple of things to keep in mind:
1. These cities aren’t in any particular order. There’s no “best” or “worst” in this list.
2. Nearby festivals are limited to around a two hour drive.
3. Again, this is just a partial list, not a full rundown of every music festival in the city.

Ready? Pack your bags (and anything else that needs packing) and let’s check out the hottest music festival cities in the land…

Born during a sweaty, backstage, Bonnaroo downpour, the Chief Festival Junkie's mission in life is to dance, write, and travel to every great festival that this wide world has to offer. While his identity remains a mystery, you may have already met him, probably when he helped himself to your party favors.

Levi

Saint Louis Kid

I’m with you Levi, I think the author may be bias. Why else would he begin his comment with the statement: “Typically locked in the icy grasp of a Great Lakes winter….” Truth is, Chicago does have a great four season climate and a real winter but the city is not typically locked in winter. The great advantage for Chicago’s outdoor concert season is the fact that along with the four season climate comes a typically moderate Chicago summer. This, for sure, trumps some of the cities on the list which typically have an oppressively hot or oppressively hot/humid summer concert season. In addition, I’ll take Chicago as a destination over most all the cities on the list music festival or no.

Braj

Let me just go ahead and fill in the ones you forgot for LA: Nocturnal Wonderland, Escape from Wonderland, Beyond Wonderland, Hard Haunted Mansion, Hard: Day of the Dead, Rock the Bells, and nearby festivals EDC LV (only the biggest music festival in the country), Coachella and Stagecoach. LA is number one hands down.

Andrew

Terry Liska

If you FIBS would have read the beginning of the list it said the order does not mean a thing. The top ten were treated equal..The list did not include Milwaukee.. Summerfest is the top Music Fest in the USA hands down. Milwaukee is called the City of Festivals. Not even a mention.. Hey Braj: Summerfest in Milwaukee Is The Worlds Largest Music Festival but you said EDC LV “is the biggest music festival in the country” Braj .. You should get your facts straight..

Jordan

Where is Milwaukee, Wi? Nicknamed the City of Festivals…SUMMERFEST the largest outdoor music festival in the world. You haven’t been to a music festival until you’ve been to Summerfest. These cities have nothing on Milwaukee

About Us

We love music festivals as much as you do. Music Festival Junkies is dedicated to covering the scene, the experience, and the music with news, lineups, reviews, and commentary. See you this summer somewhere down the gypsy road.